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Monday, 25 April 2016

The Subbuteo Parramatta club proudly hosted ATFA’s first ever stand-alone junior tournament during the recent school holidays, with results going towards the players’ WASPA ranking points. A small but dedicated bunch turned up at the Subbuteo Parramatta clubhouse bright and early on Monday morning to spend a few hours having fun over the Subbuteo pitches. Lucas brought along a couple of mates, brothers Jakob and Thomas, who spent the first round watching how to play and picking up the rules. Imojjen and Daniel played out a scoreless draw while Æowyn scored an excitedly celebrated winner in her clash with Lucas. The two new boys got their first taste of playing in the second round of group games. Both showed they had picked up the basics very well. Their respective opponents, Daniel and Lucas both came away with wins, but the margins were small with neither Jakob nor Thomas looking out of place. In the final group games, Imojjen slipped one goal past a quickly learning Thomas, while Æowyn and Jakob played out a goalless draw. So Daniel came out on top via a superior goal difference in Group One, while Æowyn topped the Group Two table.

Setting up for the opening round

In the first semi-final, Lucas slipped a goal past Daniel to take the match, while the two sisters, Imojjen and Æowyn, picked up their rivalry but couldn’t be separated, even after extra-time. A shoot-out was called for, with both girls bursting with nerves. Hugs were given between each shot but it was Imojjen who prevailed in the end. Which means the two group winners were consigned to the 3rd/4th play-off and the two group runners-up were headed to the final, demonstrating the closeness in quality between all the players.

Thomas and Jakob faced each other in the minor placing play-off where big brother Jakob scored his first competitive goal to take a 1-0 victory. In the 3rd/4th play-off, Daniel snuck a solitary goal past Æowyn with a quick manoeuvre that left Æowyn unable to get her hand on her ‘keeper in time. And so to the grand final. Imojjen was playing one of her best games ever and crafted a deserved lead midway through the first half. From here the game was a tense affair, with neither player being able to get on top. Imojjen looked to be heading to the title but this also lead to nerves kicking in. With just over 60 seconds left on the clock, Lucas shot his equaliser into the back of Imojjen’s net. With neither player able to find a quick winner, the game went to extra time. Again, neither player could find a way through for a decisive goal, so shots were called. Lucas took an early lead with his second shot, but Imojjen kept in touch after this. With a chance to draw level with her fourth shot, nerves really kicked in and Imojjen managed an incredible feat – her flicking finger doing an amazing dance around the figure and connecting directly with the ball, sending it off sideways! Lucas’ 5th shot was saved by Imojjen, but he held a 2-1 lead, meaning Imojjen needed to score her 5th to send it to sudden death. In spite of a good shot on target, Lucas’ ‘keeper was able to keep the ball out and he jumped off in celebration of his triumph, Imojjen having lost her second consecutive tournament grand-final shoot-out.

An excellent morning of fun for all involved with a few new players introduced enthusiastically to the great game. A big thanks to Geoff from the Hipfingerz club for making the trip out and helping with officiating. Hopefully we will see the junior scene continue to grow!

Last friday the Italian club of Catanzaro was holding a WASPA tournament with the old rules. Nine players competed under the theme of the Champion's League. Ugo Custo (Ajax) was the final winner after defeating Alessandro Corigliano (Monaco) in the final. Antonio Marullo was 3rd and Andrea Pagano was 4th.

Saturday 23 April 2016, Pretoria, South Africa
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the premises of Aerosud Aviation's Innovation & Training Centre in Centurion, but due to the entry of only 8 particpants from Pretoria an 11th hour decision was made to move the event to the homebase of Pretoria Flickers Club in Pretoria. The 8 participants were placed in two groups of four, where the higher ranked players competed for the Pretoria Open prize and the lower ranked players competed in the Plate Section. The latter group also included Subbuteo debutant Webster Morris. We were treated to a feast of goals on the day, as we witnessed 36 goals scored over the 21 scheduled fixtures!
Round 1 matches once again pitted pre-tournament rivals Bevin Reed & Jayden vd Merwe, with Bevin again taking the honours by way of a 1-0 victory, thanks to a fiercely struck shot into Jayden's right hand top corner of the goal! In the Plate Section, all players were level on 1 point each after Round 1 matches produced two 0-0 results. Round 2 of the Plate Section then produced the big upset of the day as newcomer Neilon Waterson defeated Adam Murray by 1-0! Round 3 of the Open Section produced a 5 goal thriller which ended Jayden vd Merwe 2 v 3 Chessray Jooste - a result which certainly dampened Jayden's aspirations on the day!
To ensure all players got to play 5 matches on the day, Rounds 4 & 5 were decided by random draw with match-ups "across the two sections". As was expected, Kegan vd Merwe was setting the pace in the Plate Section - he secured the prize as Plate Winner in Round 4, when he had to come from behind to win 2-1 against Julian vd Merwe. Certainly a well deserved and morale boosting achievement for Kegan on the day!
Match 20 saw Kegan vd Merwe go down by 1-0 to Chessray Jooste - the result inflicted Kegan's only loss of the day, but the result was what Chessray needed to tie Bevin on 9 points overall and force the Open Section into a Final Play-Off match. In the final, Chessray relied on his attacking play (which was sound throughout the day) but Bevin's defence held firm. Bevin then struck with a swift counter attack down the right flank, moving the play to the centre to strike with a fierce low shot to win the match 1-0 and take the honours of 2016 Pretoria Open Champion! The triumph for Bevin Reed marks the capture of his 5th WASPA title to date - congratulations to Bevin for reaching this milestone!
Thanks to all for attending and making the day a success once again !!

Round one of the Sonoma County Subbuteo Circuit was played out on Sunday at Fundemonium Hobby Store in Rohnert Park, California. Four players participated, including young Kieran Vahle making his first Nor Cal Subbuteo appearance and showing his dad has taught him a thing or two! Good fun for all on the day, and an added bonus of a few drop-ins who remembered Subbuteo from their childhood days in England and Scotland and came by to check out the action. Hope to see you all again for Sonoma County Circuit Round Two!

Friday, 22 April 2016

Two major competitions were held in Newbury Park, southern California over the week-end of April 16th/17th 2016. Players attended from as far and wide as Florida, Maryland, Minnesota and Colorado as well as the top players from southern California as well.

Zach vs Christian in the Sunday final

On Saturday the FISTF Satellite competition was won convincingly by Christian Filippella with an extraordinary 7-0 defeat of Paul Eyes in the Final. Up to that point Paul had played well in qualifying and the semi-final versus Mike Tillman, but he had no answer to Christian’s accuracy and impeccable shooting. Christian was a top player in Italy until retiring in 2001 and was recently discovered living in Hollywood, and has re-ignited his passion for Subbuteo, and it looks like that is going to be to the great benefit of USA Subbuteo and the ASA.

On Sunday the American Subbuteo Association held its own California Open Cup competition, and the tournament field was strengthened further by the presence of seven-times USA champion Zach Walker. The match that everyone wanted to see occurred in the final between Christian Filippella and Zach. After Christian took the lead, Zach fought back to equalize in an even first half, but in the second half, gradual and intense pressure wore down Zach’s defence and Christian scored twice in the last four minutes to win the match 3-1. Zach created chances and came very close however. It was a tremendous match to finish a brilliant week-end of Subbuteo competition.

Tuesday, 19 April 2016

4 Players turned up for our April Competition. Our first without founder member Giuseppe who was on holiday in his native Italy.

The format was a straight out league, with each player playing each other twice. Last months winner Gus got off to a flyer with a 3-0 win over Rik, whilst Andrew Bennet beat Andy Ridgen 2-0. The next round saw Rik not only get 3 points but put 4 goals past Andrew B, which would turn out to be costly for the Ipswich flicker. Gus continued his dominance with a 4-0 win over Andy. The next round brought about a large heap of levelling, Andrew B comfortably bringing Gus’s winning streak to a crashing 4-1 end. Rik kept himself in contention with a 4-2 victory over Andy. So at the halfway stage, Gus led Rik and Andrew by goal difference alone, each player on 6 points.

The return fixture of Rik and Gus saw Rik take a deserved lead. However, Gus brought his goal scoring mojo and remarkably finished 4-1 to the good, as much to Gus’s surprise as Rik’s. Andrew B beat Andy R by one goal to get to 9 points. The penultimate round saw Andrew B get his revenge for Rik’s earlier 4-1 defeat with a 4-1 defeat of his own. Gus had to step things up to beat a stubborn Andy who was beginning to find some form, and narrowly won 2-0. This left Andrew and Gus on 12 points each heading into the final fixtures. A draw would be enough for Gus to retain the trophy, but having lost to Andrew 4-1 already, it seemed a big ask. It was a tense match as neither player wanted to give anything away. The nerves were showing, and eventually Gus made the breakthrough. Andrew fought back with intensity and was rewarded with the equaliser. In the end, Gus’s defence held out and 1-1 was the final score handing the trophy to Gus by way of a superior goal difference. The other game saw Andy get his first points beating Rik 3-1.

It was certainly a day for goals, 46 in total of which many were quite spectacular, and from all the players. Who’d have thought you could have so much fun with a bunch of kids who refuse to grow up……

Monday, 18 April 2016

This week-end Marco Zucchi won the Czech Subbuteo Cup 3-1 in the final against Radoslav Cajnik. The tournament attracted a small turnout of five players but shows again that Czech Republic is alive in the international subbuteo circuit.

This Friday there was a "promotional tournament" in Templeuve, Belgium. Some of the local players were not allowed to play some only games between the four "allowed" competitors counted to decide the winner. Alain Flament won his 3 "official" games to claim the tile while Matthias Averlant was runner-up, Eric Caillaux was 3rd and Olivier Bodelle was 4th.

Good and fun day once again at the Tithe Social Club in Harrow for the OLD Waspa tournament won by Gerald Edwin Brightwell after a no defeat performance in a 6 player Round Robin that guaranteed everyone 5 games. Last round match of the day had the taste of a final in a thrilling 1-1 vs Rudi Peterschinigg that came 2nd, also with no defeats but 1 point behind. Third spot goes to Jonathan Lopez-Real back on flicking after a long break with 6 points ( 2 points for a win), 4th Kevin John Walker with 5, John Ellis (-4) and Neil Doherty (-6) to close the table both with 2.
Once again Congratulations to Gerald Brightwell and thanks to whoever made the effort and hopefully we'll see many more next time

Despite a couple of the big name favourites being unable to play the fourth Melbourne Table Football Championship provided an impressive day of high quality table football. The players in this club have made extraordinary strides over the last few years in helping to re-establish table football in Australia, while at the same time becoming really tough competitors.

In group 1 Benji Batten scraped home the 1-0 victor against newcomer Juan Menendez. Juan who has only being playing for a couple of months showed real class all day and clearly has the potential to be a quality player going forward. Juan went on to draw with Beth Eveleigh 0-0 and lost to Peter Thomas 0-4. Benji nearly took the roof off the building with his goal scoring shouts against Peter Thomas, but despite such heroic efforts they were not enough to stop the goals going in the back of his own net. With Beth coming unstuck against Benji 1-0, Peter finished on top in the group and Benji second.

Group 2 was a tight affair with Luke Radziminski just squeezing past Chris Garagounis 2-1. With Luke managing to slot 4 passed Adam Deverell, and Chris only managing a draw against Adam it was Luke who topped the group and Adam second to qualify.

The the semi final grudge match between club President and all round Mr nice guy Luke Radziminski and Benji Batten was a close game. Benji was ahead 2-0 when he set about throwing things away and allowed Luke to get back into the game. Luke brought it back to 2-1 and should really have scored towards the end of the game to make it 2-2.

In the other semi-final Peter Thomas was pushed all the way by Chris Garagounis, but despite heroic efforts and great goal keeping it was not enough, and Peter progressed to the final.

The final was a repeat of the earlier group game between Peter Thomas and Benji Batten. It was clear Benji really wanted revenge for the earlier on. Benji furiously polished his figures and practiced his ice-man pose prior to the final to try and gain the psychological advantage on Peter. The first 5 minutes of the game were very tense with Benji both defending and attacking well, chasing Peter all round the pitch. If Benji could keep this up we were in for a great game. Unfortunately it was not to be. One of Benji’s over polished players just slid too far causing a defensive error and allowing Peter an easy first goal, which was quickly followed up by another. Benji pulled in back to 2-1 with a delightful on the run combination which was followed by a goal and the shriek of delight. But this only served to motivate Peter further and he came straight down the pitch from kick-off and scored. By the time half time came it was 6-1 to Peter and look all over.

The second half saw an improved performance from Benji. Knowing he needed goals Benji went out on the attack and this paid off, scoring two goals in the second half to Peter’s one. This was not to be enough and the final score was 7-2.

Saturday, 16 April 2016

The Flick Central Cup took place on 15 April 2015 at the clubhouse premises of Jurong Central SC. Organised by JCSC & supported by SG Flick Central, the tournament drew 16 participants. Bernard, the only SG Lion in the playing line-up, overcame the odds against his Jurong buddies to emerge victorious!! Fauzi Ghani, a last-minute entrant to the proceedings, beat Bolkiah Musa to take the Plates event.

Thursday, 14 April 2016

Last night the Lincoln Flickers hosted their "Copa Libertadores" in their premises with a very good turnout of 7 players. The tournament was played in Swiss system and in the end, Richard Meddings took the honors.

* We were happy to see the first tournament organized by the club of "North Staffs" in England;
* The Templeuve United club hosted their 50th regional tournament;
* We included the results of the four legs of the Scottish circuit;
* We were happy to have 2 US winners in England (Paul O'Donovan Rossa in Enderby, Paul Eyes in London);

Old rules are still very popular in italy

* South Africa and Australia had 3 events in 3 different cities;
* Gabriele Silveri from Italy won the old rules tournament in Stoke on Trent (England);
* South Africa and Scotland are up in the top 5 of the ranking of nations;
* The total number of ranked players is down to 1593. Some nations like Portugal and Canada have lost most of their players in the ranking as almost no WASPA tournament had been organized in these countries in a recent past. Some other nations might also disappear of the ranking in the near future;
* The good news is that in general we have more players in tournaments than in the previous seasons (1800 after 7 months while we had 2981 in 12 months last season);
* Hopefully we will have the first event in Norway and New Zealand soon.

Last week 12 players met in Hofstade-Zemst for the monthly tournament of the SC Flanders club. Players had a good evening and Jérôme Heyvaert finished on top of the ladder with four wins. Jos Ceulemans was runner-up while the third place was for Diederik Boyen who usually lives in Portugal but was visiting in Belgium for some time.

Sunday, 10 April 2016

Saturday 9 April 2016, Pretoria, South AfricaThe 2016 edition of the PFC League 1
Cup saw a field of 8 participants on the day, with each player getting to play 4 matches by way of random draw. Match 1 dished up a mouth watering encounter with pre-tournament favourites Bevin Reed & Jayden van der Merwe renewing their rivalry. In the end Bevin triumphed by 1-0 over Jayden. This gave Bevin the perfect start to the defense of his League 1 title - Bevin secured his first WASPA title by winning the 2015 edition of this cup!
In Round 2 matches, newcomer Stanton Nortjie stunned Bevin by taking the lead on 3 minutes and Bevin played under immense pressure (mostly brought on by himself) for the remainder of the game - Bevin got the equaliser with 44 seconds left to play, and a huge smile of relief followed, as Bevin avoided the "upset of the day". That result left Stanton brimming with confidence, especially after he suffered a 1-0 loss to Julian vd Merwe in Round 1 matches. Round 3 produced a thriller of a match which ended Chessray Jooste (2) v (1) Julian vd Merwe - a match played at franctic pace with both players throwing caution to the wind, constantly probing and looking to exploit any weakness in their opponent!
Bevin had to wait as late as Round 4 to clinch the title, as he ground out a patient 1-0 win over his younger brother Sherwin Reed. On the day Sherwin managed to finish 5th overall - a satisfying finish for one of our newcomers too!
Match 20 saw the battle for 2nd place overall - that match ended Chessray (1) v (0) Jayden, with pre-tournament favourite Jayden having to settle for 3rd
place overall. The triumph for Bevin Reed marks the capture of his 4th WASPA title to date - congratulations to Bevin! Thanks to all for attending and making the day a success once again!

Only three players took park in this mini tournament in North Shields on Friday night. Chris Kaberry refereed proceedings on this occasion.
All three players were very evenly matched and the play was very competitive and tight throughout. Possession play was 50/50 in all three games and it was obvious that the odd goal was going to be crucial. Andy got one of them against Nigel, but Nigel had his chances and was unlucky not get a point. Dave scored the only other goal in the third game. The outcome of the whole night would have been different if Nigel had netted an absolute sitter in front of goal 50 seconds from time. A great save from Dave kept him out. Dave kept his cool to win the subsequent shoot out with Andy 2-0. Well done to all three players for a very entertaining and enjoyable evening.

Maryland Subbuteo Club had the pleasure of hosting Peter Vahle from California in a 3 man double round robin WASPA "East meets West" event. Full results to follow. Standings:
Daniel Cranston 10 pts
Paul Eyes 7
Peter Vahle 0
Peter showe steady imprivement throughout and lost narrowly 1-2 to Eyes in his final game. Great to meet and play Peter!

Thursday, 7 April 2016

On March 20th the club of North Staffs TFC organized their first WASPA tournament in Stoke on Trent. The tournament was played with the old rules and attracted 13 players. Italy's Gabriele silveri defeated Jeremy Boothman in the final. Rudi Peterschinigg and Brian Daley reached the semi-finals. Hopefully this will be the first of many WASPA tournaments in Stoke.

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

The recent tounament of the Warcoing Ducks took place in Templeuve due to the unavailability of the home club premises. Geoffrey Marain endeed on top of a group of 7 and claimed the title. He only shared points in his game against Vincent Guyaux. The final standings were as follows:
1. Geoffrey Marain
2. Vincent Coppenolle
3. Vincent Guyaux
4. Matthias Averlant
5. Eddy Beernaert
6. Eric Caillaux
7. Jason Delattre

Monday, 4 April 2016

Last friday the Italian club of Catanzaro was holding the first edition of the "Guinness Cup", a tournament played with the old rules. 14 players from the local club were taking part. Ugo Custo defeated Domenico Giglio in the final while Andrea Pagano was 3rd and Davide Colace was 4th. Mariano Ansani won the consolation final against Giangi Carioti.

Friday, 1 April 2016

Earlier this month, in the recent Grand prix of England in Enderby, two WASPA events were played with players out of the group stage. In the first event, only Open players were taking part. Rémi Soret (france) finished on top of a field of 7 to take the title. The AS Hennuyer player defeated Gianpaolo Vitulano in the final (2-1). 13 Veteras played in the other tournament and Paul O'Donovan Rossa (USA) defeated Jeremy Bradley in the final. Congratulations to the winners.

Last wednesday the Lincoln Flickers had a gathering in their premises but unfortunately there was a small turnout of four.

Andy Boyer ended as winner of the group stage after winning his three games. Richard Meddings, John Devaney and Michael Hardy ended with 2 points but Richard Meddings was ranked runner-up thanks to more goals scored.

Five good reasons to organize WASPA tournaments

1. You only need 3 players to have the WASPA status and get ranking points;2. It is always better to play under the banner of an international association instead of playing only friendly games;3. The WASPA will help you to make new friends and meet more different players;4. You can slightly change some of the official rules when you organize a tournament (for instance you can play games of 20 minutes);5. Tournaments are easy to organize and you just need to announce the tournaments a few days in advance to get the WASPA status.

For other nations, candidates are welcome. Clubs interested to join the WASPA circuit are also free to contact us. Applications should be sent to Vincent Coppenolle

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Philosophy

The philosophy of the WASPA is to make unity between all amateur subbuteo players in the world, to organize tournaments and meetings between players at regional, national and international level.There will be a world ranking organized.Players of every country should have the same importance. There should not be difference between players in or outside Europe. Players from small nations should have the same rights and duties as those from bigger countries.